Lost Then Found
by xogabriellaa
Summary: NYC is the place to be for big dreams; for Gabriella Montez and Troy Bolton that is correct. Both on a journey to launch their careers, they meet and embark new experiences together. However - as their jobs get in the way of their relationship.. will they overcome it or let their ambitions win?
1. Prologue

**SUMMARY: **In New York City, there are plenty of young souls in hopes for a better life; to start over and make a name for themselves. One of them being Gabriella Montez, an aspiring writer who hopes of establishing a writing career for The New Yorker. Then there's Troy Bolton, a photographer, who just wants to do something different in his life since he had always been living in the city. The two meet and when they do, their life long dreams seem to slowly become true. Until their careers get in the way of their relationship. Can they make it work while handling their great ambitions? Or just give up on their love and focus on their themselves?

_**Lost Then Found**_

_**Prologue/Preface**_

_3 months later – September _

"So, tell me Mr. Bolton. What made you take such a different turn in your career?" Mr. Morley asked Troy Bolton. Mr. Morley was Troy's boss at The New Yorker, which he originally worked as a photographer. However – today was the day he decided to do something different and hand in a story he had written, hoping it could be published.

"Well.." He began to speak. "For the past couple of months I had a lot of ups and downs.. especially with one specific person. All the memories and experiences just inspired me to give writing a try and share the most wonderful time of my life."

Mr. Morley nodded, seeming pleased of Troy's answer. A smile crept onto his face and he nodded. "I was able to read your story and I thought it was.. brilliant! I would really love to publish it."

Troy smiled, feeling the warmest and happiest feeling inside of him. "That would be such an honor! Thank you so much, Mr. Morley."

"It's no problem really," He said, fixing his tie. "I just hope that maybe.. this girl can stumble upon this story and be in awe. Perhaps come running back to you, if you were granted a miracle."

Troy chuckled. "That would be delightful," He smiled, but it soon faded away. "But things happen for a reason. We were probably meant to part ways for own sakes."

Troy began to think about that last moment with her; that one special girl who he truly loved. She beautiful, with dark brown curly hair and big, bold brown eyes that shined whenever the sunlight hit her face. Her adorable echoed within his mind every time he thought of her. The way they held each other was like they were meant to be together. The way she made him feel... there were no words to describe the love they shared. Until things began to hit rock bottom. She was everything to him; she was his world.

"If you don't mind me asking.." Mr. Morley said, interrupting Troy's thoughts. "Who is this mystery girl that had such an affect on you?"

Troy smiled, her face appearing in his mind. "You might know her," He mumbled. "Gabriella Montez."

* * *

I _really_ apologize for such a short introduction! The rest of the chapters **WILL** be longer, I promise. I just had a vision for the prologue but I didn't really think it'd turn out so short, lol. But I hope you readers enjoyed it, so please review!

XOXO


	2. Burnt Bagels & Cold Coffee

**SUMMARY: **In New York City, there are plenty of young souls in hopes for a better life; to start over and make a name for themselves. One of them being Gabriella Montez, an aspiring writer who hopes of establishing a writing career for The New Yorker. Then there's Troy Bolton, a photographer, who just wants to do something different in his life since he had always been living in the city. The two meet and when they do, their life long dreams seem to slowly become true. Until their careers get in the way of their relationship. Can they make it work while handling their great ambitions? Or just give up on their love and focus on their themselves?

_**Lost Then Found**_

_**Chapter 1 – Burnt Bagels & Cold Coffee**_

_9 months ago – December _

It was another rowdy, snowy day in New York City. The streets were filled with people rushing to escape the cold and taxi cabs were honking at each other to avoid traffic. Oh, the beauty and the joy of living in such a.. productive city. This was something that crossed Gabriella Montez's mind every morning when she step foot outside onto the streets from her tiny, depressing apartment. She stared at the snowy streets and sighed, a fog coming out of her mouth. _Cheers to a new day_, she thought to herself.

She walked down the street, trying to carefully not to fall on the snow. As a habit, she looked down while walking to make sure she doesn't trip or something on something..disgusting. But it didn't help her from being a clumsy person. At least once a day she would always bump into someone because she's always looking down. She couldn't help it.. it had become a very bad habit.

She turned the corner and suddenly smelled the fresh smell of pancakes and coffee. Her stomach grumbled as she slowly smiled to herself. In just a few more steps, she'd be in front of her favorite diner: Smitty's. She had first found it 6 years ago, when it was her first day of college. She was 18 years old at the time and was completely oblivious of the city and how it ran. It was a great change in environment from her usual relaxed, down to earth Florida hometown. Change is good, she always reminded herself throughout college. Now it's been three years since she graduated and she was determined to stay in the city to establish a career for herself. Her goal was to become a writer. She'd be doing anything, as long as she was able to write a wonderful story with her name written all over it. She didn't mind if her ambition led to her to become a journalist or an author. You were always writing anyways, that's all she wanted for her life.

Gabriella walked inside of Smitty's and quickly sat herself in front of the counter. Unbuttoning her coat, a waitress with curly red locks approached her. Gabriella looked up and they smiled at each other. "Good morning, Gabs," The waitress greeted her. "Would you like the usual?"

"Morning, Maddie," She said, and then bit her lip. "I think I might go for something different today. Can I just have coffee for now?"

Maddie nodded. "Of course, I'll be right back."

Gabriella looked down at the menu and pondered about what she wanted. If she allowed herself, she'd order almost everything from the breakfast section and eat it all in one sitting. But then she'd gain over twenty pounds and wouldn't be able to sit up straight to even type a sentence on her computer. No way, she thought to herself not agreeing to the idea. She skimmed through all the delicious names and finally decided to settle on pancakes.

Once she looked up, Maddie had already returned with her coffee – one cup of milk and three sugars, just the way she likes it. "Thank you," She said. "And can I have two buttermilk pancakes, please?"

"Coming right up," Maddie said, jotting it down and walked away to place the order.

This was the moment that Gabriella despised the most. Sitting awkwardly and quietly as she waited for her food, especially since she was always alone. She really wish she had friends in the city. She wasn't sure if she could count her next door neighbor, Sharpay Evans, as a friend. Sharpay was a.. interesting individual. She was a female version of a womanizer, bringing home guys or girls every other night. It was difficult to keep up with, honestly. She always arrived at the apartment around midnight, stomping loudly in the hallway with her sleeping buddy as they laughed till they reached inside of the apartment. Then, every morning after Sharpay would knock on Gabriella's door around 10 o'clock in the morning for coffee filters or frozen waffles. After that she would come back half an hour later and ask for Gabriella's help to get rid of whoever she slept with. It had become a custom for both Sharpay and Gabriella, almost like their bonding time. And honestly – Gabriella hated it, but she pitied Sharpay and her loneliness. So, she just forced herself to do it.

Gabriella had begun to doodle on a napkin with a pen she had found on the counter. Finders keepers losers weepers, she had told herself when she had grabbed it quickly. She was in the middle of drawing a flower, when someone had tapped her shoulder from behind. She looked over her shoulder to see a woman with glorious golden blond hair and precious green eyes that looked like gems. Gabriella was in awe at how beautiful this woman was. Was it safe for her to think to herself that she would turn lesbian for her in a heartbeat? Gabriella blinked a couple of times, giving herself a reality check, and smiled.

"Hi," She said in a soft whisper, very innocently.

The woman grinned. "Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you had seen a guy here? He's pretty tall, fair.. kind of skin color, and he has brown hair with blue-ish eyes. He probably was carrying around a camera," She told Gabriella, biting her lip afterward.

Gabriella cleared her throat, sitting up straighter. "Oh, no. I don't believe so. I'm sorry, but perhaps you can wait here until he shows up. This place has the best pancakes and bacon omelets in the city!"

She giggled, and nodded. "Alright, I'll give into that." She seated herself next to Gabriella, putting her bag on the counter. Extending her hand out, "I'm Katherine, or Kathy. Whatever you want to call me," She said.

Gabriella shook her hand and smiled. "Gabriella, or you can call me Gabby."

"Nice to meet you, gorgeous," She winked with a grin on her face.

Gabriella blushed, giggling. "Likewise, beautiful."

_Wait, was this some type of flirting?_ Gabriella thought to herself. Well, who couldn't when this woman had just seated herself next to her and probably was going to start a conversation with her in the next ten minutes. Maybe the Lord has heard Gabriella's prayers and blessed her with a friend. "Thank you, Jesus," She whispered to herself.

"Did you say something?" Katherine said, looking up at Gabriella.

Gabriella shook her head quickly. "Oh no, I was just mumbling to myself. I'm really hungry, that's all."

As on cue, Maddie - the waitress - had arrived with Gabriella's pancakes. She placed the plate in front of her and turned to Katherine with a smile. "Well hello there, Kathy. Nice to see you again, what can I get you today?"

Katherine smiled. "The usual, but I'm gonna need a mug of coffee today.."

Maddie frowned. "Troubles with the boyfriend again?"

"Yeah," Katherine sighed.

Gabriella pretended not to be paying attention to the conversation as she cut her pancakes into four sections. She grabbed a jar of strawberry syrup and drowned the buttermilk savory heaven in it. Quietly, she giggled to herself - remembering her childhood when her father used to take her every Sunday to eat breakfast at the most fanciest diner. She always ordered pancakes and a large strawberry milkshake. Once she got her order, she watched her father cut it in four and pour strawberry syrup on them. It became a tradition, and it slowly became a habit as had gotten older. She would never forget her "pancake roots." It was a memory of her beloved father, who had just taught her so much about the world...

Gabriella heard Katherine sigh. When she looked up at her, she noticed a man had seated next to Katherine. He had short, brown hair and blue eyes. His facial hair was stubby, needed to be shaved in a few days but it was attractive. He had a Canon camera on a strap his chest and held it with one hand. He placed his free hand on Katherine's thigh which caused them to share a strong, intimate moment of looking into each others eyes. Gabriella felt her heart pound quicker and harder. She almost felt quiet jealous, yet lonely at the fact nobody had ever done that with her before in any of her past relationships. Gabriella continued to stare, completely forgetting about how rude the action was - but Katherine and the mystery man didn't even notice so it didn't stop her.

"Kathy," He said. "I've said I'm sorry a million times, why can't you forgive me?"

"Because!" She said loudly, looking away from him and shoving his hand away. "This isn't the first time you've cheated on me and it's becoming difficult to trust you.." She began to blink multiple times after trailing off of her words. Gabriella noticed Katherine's eyes tear up and she wanted to rub her back and tell the guy to back off. She felt.. pity.

The guy sighed. "Please Kathy. I promise not to do it again..."

She smirked and looked back at him. "You promise? You know you make a lot of promises you can't keep. Like you promised when we moved in together that you'd be home more, that you broke. Or that time when you promised we would get married that summer in the Hamptons, you broke that too!" She said, her tone getting more furious by the second. "And you promised me you wouldn't cheat on me again the first time..."

This time Katherine began to cry and she wiped away the tears quickly. She looked away again and zipped her jacket closed. She shook her head, "I'm done with you. Officially." She stood up and called out to Maddie. "Cancel my order. I'm leaving."

The guy stood up and tugged aggressively on Katherine's arm. "Don't go, please! I'm begging you.. just one more chance and if I screw it up I'll leave you alone."

"It's funny how you say 'if you screw up,' you can't even say you won't do it again!" She said to him, pushing him. "You fucking bastard!"

"Katherine-" He continued to speak.

"Hey!" Gabriella said aloud. She didn't know what she was getting herself into but she was tired of this guy speaking to Katherine. "She said to leave her alone, right? Stop being so stubborn and just leave!"

He looked at her, shocked. "And you are?"

"My friend," Katherine quickly spoke. "And if you disrespect her, then that gives me ever more of a reason to really leave you."

He sighed. "Seriously? Come on Katherine, you're being so stupid! We belong together! Deep down, you know that!"

"She doesn't need to belong to anyone who doesn't treat her right," Gabriella spoke again. "You're just an asshole who's so dependent on her. You've done her wrong and these are your consequences. Congratulations, you have discovered reality."

He rolled his eyes. "Can you just please mind your business, miss?"

Gabriella shook her head. "No, cause right now Katherine is my business and you have been irking me with your pleading for the past fifteen minutes. Please get out and grow some man balls."

Katherine laughed quietly, covering her mouth. "Um.." She spoke softly, clearing her throat. "I'm leaving. Thank you Gabby.." She looked down and walked out of the diner.

I quickly grabbed my bag and ran out after her, her apparent ex-boyfriend following. "Katherine!" We both yelled at the same time.

She turned around and stared at us, her eyes still teary. "Troy! We're over, leave me alone okay? I'm moving out.. and you're never seeing me again," She said to him angrily.

"But-" He spoke, taking a step closer to her.

"No!" She shook her head. She looked at me and smiled, "Thank you. I hope to see you tomorrow." She winked, hoping Gabriella understood the message, and turned around, walking away for good.

Gabriella sighed and glanced at the guy. "Glad you did yourself a favor and grew some dignity by not running after her," She spoke softly.

He looked at her and smirked. "Things happen for a reason. Maybe we really weren't meant to be together.."

"Yeah, okay then," She said and began to walk away. "Nothing lasts forever!"

"Hey wait!" He called out, causing Gabriella to look back. "I'm Troy.. and you really impressed me back in there. You have some guts to call out strangers.."

"Thanks," She said nonchalantly. "But if you're going to try to ask me out or something.. I think you're moving on too fast. Just saying."

He walked up closer to her, being a step away. "Well it doesn't hurt to try," He said with a grin.

Gabriella rolled her eyes. "Nice to meet you too, but I'm not interested. Goodbye now."

Gabriella turned around and walked away, back to her apartment. She began to think about what had just happened in less than an hour.. after ordering some decent pancakes. She sighed and thought about Katherine. She secretly hoped to see her again tomorrow morning at Smitty's, so she just have a real conversation with her. And hopefully she wouldn't see that Troy guy again.. but he seemed like the type to never give up.

Maybe, just maybe, that was a bad thing at the moment.. but perhaps it'd be good for future reference.


End file.
